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Board approves Pearson virtual program to serve homeschool students; roll‑call vote 9‑1
Summary
The Overton County Board of Education voted to approve a virtual education program using Pearson curriculum to offer an option for the county's estimated 600 homeschool students. The board approved initial licensing and implementation planning with a roll‑call vote of 9 in favor and 1 opposed.
The Overton County Board of Education voted on April 8 to approve a virtual education option using Pearson’s K–12 virtual curriculum, a proposal staff presented as a way to serve an estimated 600 homeschooled students in the county.
Staff explained that Johnson City Schools had used the Pearson program for three years and reported positive outcomes. The staff presentation said licensing for the Pearson platform was approximately $2,889 per student in the Johnson City example, and that district officials estimated roughly $4,000 per enrolled virtual student could be available to support program staffing and operations once state funding or per‑pupil allocations were considered.
Under the proposal, students would be enrolled with the district and assigned to the school corresponding to their home address for purposes such as state testing and school accountability. Staff said the minimum licensure purchase to begin the program is eight students; the district would scale the number of licenses up if enrollment exceeded the initial minimum.
The motion to approve the virtual program passed on a roll call. Board members recorded their votes in sequence during the roll call: William Ebsen — Yes; Ashley Carr — Yes; James (Clouse/Klaus) — Yes; Ben Danner — No; Ricky Dodson — Yes; Mike Hayes — Yes; Shirley Myers — Yes; Alice Reed — Yes; Melissa Savage — Yes; and Mitch Stellzacker — Yes. The board recorded 9 yes, 1 no; the motion carried.
Board discussion before the vote covered program oversight, potential impacts on school testing scores (staff noted students enrolled in the virtual option would be included in the assigned school’s accountability measures), daily participation expectations, staffing for program administration, and potential hybrid options for high‑school students who take vocational courses. Staff said Johnson City’s experience indicated virtual students could perform well and that program rules include daily participation checks and follow‑up for nonparticipation.
The board instructed staff to proceed with recruitment and implementation planning to begin offering the virtual option in the fall, with implementation details (staffing, transportation for testing, hybrid options) to be developed during the planning process.
